Page:Memoir upon the negotiations between Spain and the United States of America which led to the treaty of 1819.djvu/78

68 The Americans derive, notwithstanding, great advantage from this trade, for they do not fail in general to gain upon the commodities which they export from England, and they have besides the secure benefit of their freight—an advantage which not only seems to cover, but considerably to overbalance, the result in favour of England, if we compare the imports and exports of her commerce with the United States. But to judge correctly, on which side the real advantage lies in this commerce, it is necessary to keep in mind, that the Anglo-Americans, for want of sufficient funds for the wide extent of these speculations, avail themselves of the credit of the rich capitalists of England, and are consequently obliged to pay the stipulated interest upon the value of the articles, for which they are credited. The English derive great benefit from this circulation of their capital, for there is no nation that possesses it in such considerable and disposable quantity: they neither pay for in advance, nor sell upon credit, any thing but articles manufactured in their own country; and besides the advantage which they have in the copious exportation of these articles, in which their manufactories abound, they enjoy that of the interest just spoken of, and that of receiving payment from the Anglo-Americans only in effective money, or raw materials not produced in their own country, which they manufacture and sell again to the same